Sony’s new console has just gone out into the wild, and of course a small percentage of failures for the new systems are to be expected. There seems to be two common issues – the Blue Light (sometimes the blue pulse) of death and a HDMI issue. The issue is being clearly felt on various Amazon reviews, along with dozens of youtube videos and of course Tweets, Emails and general forum banter. It’s very difficult to get an
For right now, there isn’t a certain fix for the issues. The only sure fire solution so far seems to be either sending the affected PS4 back to Sony, or if you’re lucky and there’s a spare console you could exchange it at the store you purchased the system.
Sony’s solutions so far including holding down the power button for seven seconds, then unplugging the PS4 then plugging it back in and switching it back on. Other suggestions include ensure that the Hard Drive of the PS4 is seated correctly inside the machine, along with suggesting that the firmware of the TV you’re using is up-to-date. Despite these solutions from Sony, there are few who’ve managed to actually resolve the issue by following these steps thus far.
There does however seem to be an issue that some systems are having bent metal inside the HDMI port, and also some level of incompatibility with non-Sony HDMI cables. Some usrs have managed to fix the blue-to-white issue by taking the PS4’s day one patch, plopping it onto a USB stick and installing it.
So what about the metal in the HDMI port? Well, the at the bottom of the HDMI port the piece of metal is supposed to be straight and flush, but some reports from users are stating that theirs was bent at an upward angle. The piece of metal can actually be bent back down into position by using a pin, but the problem is that the stray bit of metal inside the port also damages the HDMI wire that was plugged into it. Of course, it’s possibly user error – the person being so excited that the system is there they’re not paying as much attention as they should. It’s probably best people check the HDMI plug and the HDMI port of the PS4 when you first get your console and you plug it in. It’s better to be safe than sorry, after all.
The HDMI issues of cables seem to be that certain non Sony HDMI cables refuse (for some reason) to work for the PS4. The cables have been tested on another device, for example the Xbox 360 and will function perfectly fine, but if plugged into the PS4 just won’t play ball. The solution is fairly simple – use a Sony approved HDMI cable and magically, the PS4 would suddenly spring into life.
The faulty percentage of damaged PS4 units reported by Sony was 0.4 percent, which is pretty darn low. But whether these numbers will remain constant, or the Playstation 4 failure rate will go higher is unknown right now.
For those Playstation 4 owners whose system glows blue but doesn’t show white, it’s pretty unclear right now what the fix is – other than calling Sony. Remember, that the Blue Light of Death has been named this because of Microsoft and the Xbox 360 failure rate. It was said that the eventual failure rate of the X360 turned out to be 56 percent, and cost Microsoft over a billion dollars in the first 3 years alone in repairing units.
